Max headroom hijack
According to station spokesman Anders Yocom, technicians monitoring the transmission "attempted to take corrective measures, but couldn't." "By the time our people began looking into what was going on, it was over," he told the Chicago Tribune. WTTW, which maintained its transmitter atop the Sears Tower, found that its engineers were unable to stop the hijacker, due to the high microwave signals that the hijacker was using, as well as the fact that there were no engineers on duty at the Sears Tower at the time of the hijacking. The accomplice then started to spank the man with a flyswatter as the man screamed loudly to "make it stop." The high jacking lasted for 90 seconds before blacking out and returning to the Doctor Who episode. His buttocks were partly exposed, and he was holding the now-removed mask up to the camera (with the rubber extension now placed in the mouth of the mask), howling, "They're coming to get me!" An unidentified accomplice wearing a French maid outfit said to him, "Bend over, b***h!" The picture suddenly cut over to a shot of the man's lower torso. He then held up a glove and said, "My brother is wearing the other one," and he put the glove on, commenting that it was "dirty" and that "it's like you got foot prints on it!" He then threw the glove down in disgust.
He then stated that he had "made a giant masterpiece for all the greatest world newspaper nerds" (the WGN call letters used by the Chicago television station as well as its sister radio station are an abbreviation for "World's Greatest Newspaper", in reference to the flagship newspaper of their corporate parent, the Tribune Company's Chicago Tribune). He then began to moan painfully, exclaiming about his piles (a reference to Preparation H), to which an indistinguishable flatulence sound was heard. He then retrieved the Pepsi can, and sang "Your love is fading", before removing the rubber extension, then began humming the theme song to Clutch Cargo, pausing to say "I still see the X", which referred to the final episode of the series, before resuming humming again. He continued to laugh and utter various random and unrelated phrases, including New Coke's advertising slogan "Catch the Wave" while holding a Pepsi can (Max Headroom was a Coca-Cola spokesperson at the time), then tossing the can down, leaning towards the camera and giving the finger wearing a rubber extension over his middle finger, although it was hard to see the gesture. The man started to moan, scream and laugh.
Max headroom hijack serial#
Central Time, during a broadcast of the Doctor Who serial "Horror of Fang Rock", PBS member station WTTW (channel 11)'s signal was hijacked by the same person that was broadcast during the WGN-TV hijack, this time with distorted and crackling audio,the Max imposter began mentioning WGN pundit, Chuck Swirsky, saying he is better than him. The sports anchor,Dan Roan,was bemused by the incident,saying, "Well,if you're wondering what's happened, so am I.",followed by failing to continue on with the sports news. After 20 seconds,the highjacking was cut short by WGN engineers switching the frequency to another transmitter.
There was no audio except for a droning buzz. Neither the hijacker nor any known accomplices have ever been found, caught or identified, which leaves the incident unsolved.ĭuring Chicago Bears highlights in the sports report of WGN-TV's The Nine O'Clock News, the screen went black for 15 seconds, then returned with a person wearing a Max Headroom mask,moving around in front of moving corrugated metal,imitating the appearances made by the real Max Headroom. The intruder was successful in interrupting two broadcast television stations within the course of three hours. It is an example of what is known in the television business as broadcast signal intrusion. The Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion was a television signal hijacking that occurred in Chicago, Illinois, United States on the evening of November 22, 1987.